Introduction

In this writing, the training and development of human resources for Public Bank will be analyzed and investigated. Public Bank is chosen as the subject under studied because the author previously worked before in the bank subsidiaries in China. It is surprising that the bank has an excellent human resources management system – judging from the low employee turnover rate (when the turnover rate in other oversea banks in China is relatively much higher), and from the highly committed and motivated task force working in the bank. Most importantly, the employees are well-equipped with the relevant knowledge and emotional intelligence to cope with the stressful daily tasks. It is believed that the training and human resources development in the firm play critical roles in achieving all these.

The article will be arranged as follow. Firstly, a brief introduction to the background of Public Bank will be provided. Secondly, the relevant theoretical framework as literature in the context of human resources management will be discussed. Thirdly, personal observation as well as HR training and development related information elicited from the bank’s annual report will be presented. Public Bank will be used as the example to discuss how training and development of human resources policies are being implemented in real life. A summary will then be presented to outline the critical role of employees training in today competitive business environment.

Background of Public Bank

Started in 1966 by Mr. Dr. Teh Hong Piow, Public Bank is currently known for its prudent and conservative management, high performance, stable corporate status, diversified asset quality, healthy capital structure and remarkable performance in servicing customers. It is a top-tier bank in Malaysia. From the past two years, it is evidenced that Public Bank is not affected by the US subprime crisis indicates its advantages due to the prudent management and conservative risk mitigation strategies. With a strong balance sheet, the bank is the currently the second largest local bank in Malaysia, measured by the market capitalization perspective. The Public Bank Group employs close to 16,000 people – up from 14,000 in 2007 – with about 90% of the staff in Malaysia and the remaining spread across Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Sri Lanka. The Public Bank Group is very concentrated on enhancing its market share in the retail lending and deposit-taking segment in Malaysia as well as many other overseas markets (particularly in the ASEAN and China). Some observers on the banking industry mentioned that the effectiveness of the bank’s corporate strategies are relying on its capability to swiftly execute the main corporate missions and objectives; the ability to innovate continuously in order to offer a variety of attractive financial packages to the ever demanding consumers. All these are supprted by a committed, motivated and hardworking workforce in the bank.

Theoretical Framework & Literature Review

Introduction to Human Resources Management

Human resource management (HRM) can be defined as the methods a corporation implement to manage the people working in the firm effectively (Ming, 2002). Usually, it is commented that HRM related tasks comprises of the following: deciding HRM strategy, staffing, executing performance evaluation, development and training of staffs, calculating compensation, training and development of successors, implementing change program program, as well as to define issues related to legal aspects on workforce relations (Beardwell & Claydon, 2007).

Importance of HRM

The importance of HRM in a firm is a well known fact. The effective implementation of HRM policies and practices for a firm is much relying on the HRM of that particular firm. Rationally, people are the most basic resources to any business’s structure and manpower is the main factor contributing to all sorts of competitive advantages for a firm (Dessler, 2011). Thus, to achieve success for any firm, it is critically required that HR management system should be supportive and well planned for the strategic intentions of a firm. Precisely, it is not hard to discover that academicians have found high correlation between HR management system and the financial profitability of a particular organization (Briscoe & Schuler, 2004). In the long term, this is extremely crucial effective execution of HRM best practices are the source of sustainable growth for a company, especially under the business environment facing great talents wars between corporations (Brewster et. al., 2007).

Training in the Context of Human Resources Management

Usually, it is widely defined by researchers that training is the planned effort by an organization in supporting and organizing the employees learning on various aspects such as job-related knowledge, skills, behaviors or any other forms of outcomes expected by the employers (Budhwar, 2004). Training and development activities are highly critical to the performance and success of a firm in today highly competitive business environment, as the terms learning organization is also quoted to refer to those company that are able to constantly adapt to the new business environment and situation and utilize the knowledge to attain competitive advantages in the marketplace. Such a situation is only possible when the organization able to design effective training programs or systems in a particular firm, to enhance the competencies of the workforce. In designing the effective training methods for a firm, the methods of training are critical as these methods can have highly impactful influence on the training program (Price, 2007).

The Different Types of Training Methods

Selection of training methods is very critical for a firm if the training program organized will be successful in teaching or shaping the employees behaviors, attitudes or understandings so that the intended outcome desired by the employers are achieved. Usually, it is argued that the most frequently used training methods available nowadays in the information era is classroom video, online training, on-the-job training and employment of external consultant for developing internal staffs. In the new business landscape, technology is having huge influence on how training is to be conducted in the workplace. Technology is indeed having great influence on the delivery modes and the training expenses. In the following section, several training methods are to be discussed. The respective advantages and limitations of these training methods will also be outlined. Whenever relevant, the training program planned and organized in Public Bank will also be presented, to illustrate the real-life examples in delivering effective training to the workforce.

Classroom instruction and presentation method. One of the most traditional forms of training is to conduct classroom instruction training. Under such method, the trainer will provide lecturing to a group of trainees. It is similar to the classroom learning course available in primary and secondary school (Boxall & Purcell, 2000). Materials are provided to students, and lecturers will teach the student on the important aspects of a subject. In many of the case, questions will be directed to the students to test their understanding on a particular subject. The advantages of such training method are that it is widely affordable. Secondly, it is not time consuming to be organized. Thirdly, the lecturer can be flexible in delivering a wide range of knowledge, guides or information to the students. Not only that, there are two-way communication between the trainers and trainees in such kind of training method. If the students or trainees in the class are active and proactive, they can truly learn a lot from the trainers. However, the disadvantages of the training method are that it is not effective in teaching the implicit skills required for the trainees to perform some task in real workplace. Besides, some trainees may feel such kind of training method is boring, and they may lack the concentration and patience to absorb the materials delivered in the course (Price, 2007). In the case of Public Bank, classroom instruction training method is often conducted to introduce the bank culture, policies and practices to the new employees. The training is often used to supply various information to the new employees, to make the new employees become familiar with the organization culture and to answer the various queries from the new staffs. Such a method is effective for the case of public bank because classroom training will be able to provide a general background of the banking group to the new employees, particularly to those fresh graduates from universities.

Audiovisual training techniques. Audiovisual training is often referred to the use of video in delivering training to the employees (Budhwar, 2004). The materials to be taught or the information to be delivered are recorded in video form, and the video can be provided to the employees so that the employees can learn about the training materials. Such a method is widely used because it has several distinctive advantages. Firstly, it is cost savings. Secondly, the trainees can vary the learning speed and thus, enhance their knowledge absorption rate. Besides, it can also be very useful for the trainers to demonstrate some examples that are hard to de delivered through verbal communication. The trainers will also form more consistent training effectiveness under such method. The drawback of such training method is that it is not interactive in nature (Price, 2007). In Public Bank, audiovisual training is widely used in delivering common knowledge required by the staffs. Besides, the various best practices and training program designed to enhance employees’ motivations and mental strengths is also recorded in the video form. This is to allow the employees to view the video as many times as possible, so that they can learn at their own speed and to learn whenever they are free to do so. The videos are also recorded in the DVD format, and employees are allowed to bring back to their home for self-learning in the home.

On the job training. On the job training is one of the training methods frequently used in various companies nowadays due to its effectiveness in training employees in learning specialized skills in the work place (Boxall & Purcell, 2000). It is one of the hands-on training method and it relevant for transferring or shaping the required behaviors and skills on a particular job, where a guidance of mentor may be necessary for the transfer of knowledge to the learner. Such a training method enables the trainees to learn through by observing peers and mentors in performing the job. There are various approaches in which such training method can be executed . For example, apprenticeships and direct mentorship program (Briscoe & Schuler, 2004). The advantage in such method is that it can be highly effective whenever a job require imitation of the learner on some expert to master the relevant skills. However, the disadvantage is that it may be time consuming, and a mentored is required for training up new learners. The mentor will be heavily burdened if a few trainees are assigned to him (Budhwar, 2004). In the case of Public Bank, whenever a new employee joined the company, a mentor is assigned to the new staffs. The mentor is supposed to act like a buddy for the new staff, to assist the new staffs to adapt to the company culture and environment, and to answers to the various doubts of the new employees in a timely manner. Besides, the mentor will also be required to supply relevant information, be it formal or informal to the new staffs on the expressed or implicit practices and policies adopted in the bank. Besides, the mentor is also supposed to teach the new learners on the tricks of performing the job successfully and effectively, primarily by pointing out the mistakes the new learner is making in the working process. Besides, apprenticeship or more commonly, the internship program is also being organized by the bank in training potential new employees. The bank often will accept universities students to undergo internship training (i.e., industrial training) for a short duration of time, ranging from 3 months to 9 months. In such an arrangement, the prospective future employees can learn more about the bank in the internship period. If the students perform well, then the bank will accept the student as the permanent staffs in the bank after the student graduated from university.

Interactive website learning methods. Interactive website or online training method often utilizes the use of video, audio and internet to deliver training program or materials to the trainees. Under the interactive online training system, the training instruction is provided via one to one trainees through a well designed program (Briscoe & Schuler, 2004). Today, it is common that interactive video is available to teach the participants about the technical procedures and interpersonal skills in the workplace. There are many advantages of such training method, where firstly, it is often customized to meet the individual needs, able to provide immediate feedback and it is very convenient to be used by the trainees. However, to develop such training program is often requiring huge capital investment, and many human capital is required. Worse, the design of a training program of such kind requires constant improvement to ensure that the software is truly effective (Budhwar, 2004). In the case of Public Bank, a web-based training is provided to the employees that are delivered on the companies Intranet. Employees are undergoing the training process though a password provided by Public Bank. In fact, whenever the employee undergo training program of such kind, the training contents and the marks scored by the employees will be recorded. The more often the employees undergoing such kind of training will probably add marks to the final decision on promotion matters in the particular year. The web-based training program include the subject of risk management, financial management, ethical behaviors and code of conducts in banking industry, and some personal development related subject.

Team building learning method. The team building training method is a widely used training technique in the large corporation. Under such a method, the team building training method assists the trainees (i.e., the team member) to share ideas, to experience cooperation, to build group relationship, to enhance inter-personal skills, and to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses in the workplace (Boxall & Purcell, 2000). Often, the team building events are organized to be an adventurous one. Such a method is powerful in building up strong relationship between the team members, and to enhance team work in a company. However, the technique is pretty physically demanding, and long hours are often required (Briscoe & Schuler, 2004). The organization of such training method can be complex, and often, hiring of external consultant may be required. Apart from that, such method also demands the training to be conducted in new places, so that the trainees will not feel boring or reluctant to join the program. All these indicate that to organize team building training method can be expensive, and thus, is often only being implemented in large corporation on a consistent manner (Price, 2007). For the case in Public Bank, the team building is organized every quarter. Every department has their choice of the theme of team building. Financial resources or budget are provided. The themes of the team building are often on leadership, team work, personal self-help, motivation, handling stresses, managing personal effectiveness, time management and some other emotional intelligence related topics. Depending on the theme, often, external consultants are being hired to conduct the meeting, where both the manager and employees are the participants (i.e., the trainees).

Recommendations

As it has been lengthily discussed that various training methods are implemented in the company, the company is performing in an excellent manner in delivering the training program and courses to the employees. Generally speaking, the various training methods and programs are well-organized, and apparently effective in shaping employees behaviors in the training process. However, that is no certainty that the training program is effective, o more accurately to mention that, there is a not evidence on which training program is more effective in shaping the workforce behaviors and increase the workforce knowledge or capabilities. Thus, a proper training evaluation program should be carried out. Although there are some degree of training evaluation program or practices being implemented by the firm, such evaluation may not be sufficient.

Secondly, there are also many other training methods available for the implementation of the bank. For example, other training methods include self-directed training method, distance learning through technologies, learning and training through simulations, providing business games and case studies for the trainees, performing behavioral modeling in shaping employees behaviors and many others (Budhwar, 2004). Some of these may be highly effective for the case in Public Bank and worth further investigation.

Conclusion

Employee training and development is very important, and it definitely plays a huge role in shaping the workforce competency in an organization. This is not something surprising, as it is human resources or human capital that shape and deliver the competitive advantages of any organization (Boxall & Purcell, 2000). Human is the ultimate elements in controlling, managing and distributing the various resources available to achieve the company mission and vision. Particularly in today competitive environment, the businesses are struggling to keep ahead by recruiting and retaining the best talents, and to train these talents to beat the competition in the marketplace. In the article above, Public Bank is used as the example to investigate the various training methods used in the bank. It is discovered that the company indeed place great importance in training the company workforce, be it on specialized and technical knowledge specific in the banking industry, as well as other personal self-help knowledge that is crucial for the employees to handle daily stressful operations in the bank.

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